Living just to keep going
by jumbawamba
Summary: AU season 4. Lanie sets Kate up with a flatmate. Even though Kate is not thrilled about that idea she lets herself get talked into it. Start of the story is set between "Head Case" and "Kick the Ballistics".


**Title: Living just to keep going**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: Castle does not belong to me. The only thing belonging to me is the mess in my room**

**Summary: AU season 4. Lanie sets Kate up with a flatmate. Even though Kate is not thrilled about that idea she lets herself get talked into it.**

**Chapter one is set between "Head Case" and "Kick the Ballistics". They have been living together for about 7 weeks.  
**

**Let me know if I should continue this story.  
**

* * *

**Living just to keep going  
**

Castle reaches out with his left hand for another slice of pizza while trying to keep the case file balanced on his legs with his right. His eyes remain glued to the folder in front of him as he takes a bite of the pizza.

"If I find one stain of grease on the sheets, I'm going to flick your ear so hard, you're going to wish you were born without them…" Beckett warns him when she sees his Cirque du Soleil act.

"Hm…" Castle answer between bites.

Beckett keeps on watching him with a skeptical eye until Castle glances up from the folder on his knees. He stops chewing for a second and gives her his most dazzling smile –except there is some oregano stuck between his teeth. Kate rolls her eyes, grabs the last piece of the family pizza and goes back to studying the time line of the crime.

"What if I wanted the last slice? What happened to sharing?" Castle complains.

"You just took the second to last piece of the pizza and you still have more than half of it left, greedy kid! And stop talking with your mouth full. It's gross. Where are your manners?"

"Lost them in bed this morning. But I'm more than willing to let you help me looking for them." he mumbles, still with food in his mouth , while he wiggles his eyebrows at her.

They caught a dead body that afternoon but didn't get too far into figuring out who the killer was. When it was time to go home – Gates order – and Beckett packed the case file into her bag, Castle offered to go over it with her as long as there was something to eat. Not eager to go home to an empty apartment, Kate accepted his offer to join her. On their way home they order pizza and now, two hours later, they are sitting on Kate's couch, eating the remains of their dinner and no step closer to knowing who killed Mr. Swanson. The case file is spread out all over the small coffee table in her living room and on the floor.

"This is frustrating," Kate states after a while. She puts down her part of the file and gets up to make some coffee.

"Hush! Reading here." Castle points out, while his eyes never leave the information on the paper on his knees.

"Seriously? You have ADD all day while I actually should get some work done, and now, while we're look at a file during my time off, you chose to behave like an A+ student studying for his finals." she exclaims on her way to the kitchen. "You're more frustrating than this case." The last part she mumbles under her breath.

"Heard that!"

Rolling her eyes for the second time in under ten minutes, she turns around again and heads to the coffee maker. However, she changes her mind and fills up the electric water jug. Then she pulls out a little basket with different tea flavors, picks a bag of Chai Latte and puts it in a mug. While she's waiting for the water to be boiled, Kate walks to the fridge and grabs the milk. After a quick sniff to look if the milk is still drinkable, astonishingly it is, for once, she pour the hot water over the tea bag and adds some sugar and milk.

As soon as Kate is back on the couch next to Castle, who is still immersed in the case file, she leans back and takes the first sip of her hot beverage. Starting to feel the long day, Kate closes her eyes and enjoys the moment where Castle is doing all the work.

The silence in Kate's apartment gets disrupted when there is the sound of a key turning in the lock coming from the front door. Castle's head shoots up from the file and his eyes open up in shock. The front door opens up and Castle jumps to his feet, but when he glances at Kate from the corner of his eyes, she's still leaning against the back of the sofa and sips her tea.

Through the door walks a young woman, early twenties, with a duffel bag thrown over her shoulder. Her red hair, which has been pulled up into a messy ponytail on top of her head, stands out against the brown leather of her jacket. Underneath the jacket she wears a white tank top and her pants are a dark green. After entering the apartment she puts down her bag next to the door and takes off her red Chucks. She doesn't look up until she hears Kate's voice.

"Hi Emma."

"Hi Kate. And hi… stranger."

"I thought you were spending a few days at your parent's place?" Kate asks while Castle is still standing between the couch and the coffee table, ready to throw himself in front of Kate if there were any danger.

"Yeah, well… not anymore." Emma replies, while she makes her way to the fridge and pulls out a beer. "So, don't let my presence interrupt your work. I'll be outside."

Emma passes them in the living room and walks up the stairs, which are filled with books, and goes out the door on top of them.

When Castle and Beckett are by themselves again, Castle turns to her with a confused expression on his face.

"Wha… who… Kate?" He doesn't know where to start asking questions

"Look Castle, I'll explain later. But I kind of need to go and talk to her. Could you, maybe, put the files back together?" Kate asks with great imitation of his puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, don't worry," He answers, still at a loss for words.

"Thank you. I'll just be…" She points upstairs, while she gets up from the couch.

* * *

When Kate opens the heavy door to her roof top garden, she's able to make out the shape of Emma. She's sitting on the ground and the bottle of beer next to her. Her legs are pulled up with her chin leaning on her knees. Her hands fumble around with a lighter and an unlit cigarette.

"Hi," Kate whispers softly as she lets herself slide to the floor next to the young woman. She has to hold her breath for a few seconds and put her hand over her scare on her left side when she feels the tissue starting to pull. As soon as she's able to handle the pain shooting through her side, Kate mirrors Emma's position. However, she leans her left cheek on her knees in order to look at Emma.

"I thought you quit?" Kate asks with a glance toward the cigarette and the lighter.

"I did," Emma answers. "I didn't smoke – yet."

Silence overtakes them again, where Kate grabs the beer and takes a long swig from the bottle.

"You shouldn't drink," Emma breaks the silence with a small smile on her face.

"I know, I know. I shouldn't drink any alcohol and try to pass on caffeine. I'm healing from a gunshot to the chest and it's bad for me. And you shouldn't smoke. It's bad for you. Period," Kate answers with a smile of her own.

With a theatrical sigh Emma hands the cigarette over to Kate, takes the bottle of beer and puts it to the other side of her.

"See, I'm a good girl." Emma says.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

* * *

tbc


End file.
